The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Well, at the last minute I found out that the nearby theatre was having a midnight showing of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Quickly we bought the tickets and then anxiously awaited the moment to see this movie. Now I will insert a caveat. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my least favorite Narnia book. I wasn't really concerned about what would change.

That was a good thing. If you are going to see an adaptation of your favorite book, this is not the movie for you.

Now for the proper review from imdb.com:

"Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship the Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world."

PROS

~Edmund really is a protective older brother

~The lessons that they learn on their journey are applicable to more than just those on the Dawn Treader

CONS

~There were really no cons. Or at least ones that stand out. More about the movie overall later on.

~However, there are a few scary parts. Near the end of a movie a Sea Serpent attacks the ship, but it is not your "normal" sea serpent. It is very scary. As someone commented, it is very likely to scare little children. Also the Dark Island is much darker than in the books or BBC versions. It is intense and there a nightmares that manifest into different forms and could be very scary if you were young and didn't understand what was happening.

LANGUAGE

~I don't remember any language

IMMORALITY

~The closest thing is a scene with Ramandu's daughter. She is a beautiful lady and Caspian and Edmund are obviously taken with her. They are having difficulty answering her questions. She offers to change form. They both shout, "No!"

~Some of the Pirate's in the Lone Islands might make inappropriate comments

RATING

PG for some frightening images and sequences of fantasy action. (These really make me laugh)

Overall the movie was good. I really enjoyed the 2 hours in the theatre. It was a story with good messages (Lucy wants to be someone she's not, and finds the consequences, Edmund deals with greed as does Caspian, Reepicheep demonstrates gallantness, Eustace learns to think of others).

But, just as in Prince Caspian, the story doesn't follow the book and therefore loses some of the necessary parts that pulls everything together.

Some of the obstacles are:

All the islands are not there and a couple are mushed together or the sequence changed. For instance, the island where Eustace becomes a dragon and the Gold Island are made into one. I felt that the importance of Eustace becoming a dragon and what that truly meant was downplayed because it was sharing time with Edmund and Caspian dealing with their greed.

Another obstacle also involved Eustace. Eustace is not made human again on the same island. They sail away with him as a dragon. Because he doesn't become a dragon on the same island, he doesn't have much time to show his growth as a boy. His dragon-self grows, but we don't really associate the dragon's growth with the boy's growth. So the end of his story seemed very rushed.

Some of the changes just weren't necessary. They added a second story line that really detracted from the story Lewis wrote.

Although there are many changes to the story, I really do like the movie as a separate entity from the book. I would like to go see it again in 2D.

What did you think?